Thoughts on the Divine Service
27. Receiving the Body and Blood
Dear friends,
While not the most glamorous of articles, here’s a second email on the nuts-and-bolts of receiving the Lord’s Supper. Last time, we looked at the ingredients. This time, some quick notes about receiving the body and blood of Christ.
As I mentioned last week, the Lord provides flexibility in what sort of bread may be used in Holy Communion, and we consider unleavened wheat wafers or “hosts” to be the best practice. Some churches make use of a loaf of bread, observing St. Paul’s words in 1 Corinthians 10:17, “Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” We do well to remember that beautiful imagery, but it doesn’t mean that the use of wafers is wrong. Breaking a loaf apart during the service inevitably means a lot of crumbs; and because we take the Lord at His Word, that bread is His body. Wafers prevent the crumbling and scattering of the body of Christ, which would be an irreverent treatment of Him and give the opposite symbolism of St. Paul’s “one bread” imagery. This doesn’t mean we deny “one bread:” instead, we recognize that the one bread was divided into individual hosts before it was delivered to the church.
St. Paul also speaks of “the cup” in 1 Corinthians 11:25, and the traditional practice of the church has been the chalice or the common cup. Individual cups were introduced into worship in churches which celebrated the sacrament by passing trays of cups down the pews. (Such churches are almost uniformly those which deny the Real Presence.) More recently, individual cups have become somewhat popular in Lutheran churches due to the fear of germs. The concern about getting sick from the common cup remains scientifically unproven after numerous studies: here’s a recent (post-Covid) study that once again reports that “the transmission of any infectious disease [via the common cup] has never been documented.” You are far more likely to catch a cold at church by being the last one to shake the pastor’s hand at the end of the service (especially if you then rub your eyes!) than by partaking of the common cup. In brief, the common cup has a much better pedigree in the Church; nevertheless, those who make use of individual cups receive the same blood of Christ for the forgiveness of sins. There is one situation in which I will use an individual cup, and that is when I am obviously under the weather: the pastor usually communes first at Good Shepherd, and I don’t want to discourage anyone from the common cup when my health is poor.
What does this all mean for receiving the body and blood of our Lord?
Communicants normally receive the body of Christ either into their hands or directly into their mouths. Reception directly into the mouth has an extensive history because the recipient does no work to receive it, which reflects the Good News that we are saved solely by the work of Christ. Reception into the hand has grown in popularity because it reduces the chance of the pastor’s fingers and the recipient’s tongue making contact. Perhaps I should have a stronger opinion, but I’m rather ambivalent about which to prefer. I appreciate the symbolism of receiving directly into the mouth, but I’m also quite sure that the Lord did not so distribute the bread at the Last Supper. If you choose to receive the host into your hand, the recommended practice is to hold out both hands, one on top of the other, forming a “throne” onto which the pastor will place the host. If you choose to receive the body of Christ directly into your mouth, please tilt your head up enough that I can see your mouth, rest the tip of your tongue on your lower lip, and keep your head still.
Regarding the blood of Christ, those who make use of the individual cups are asked to keep them visible while kneeling so that the elder knows who desires the common cup. When receiving Christ from the cup, it’s very helpful if you grasp the base of the chalice and tip the cup, as the elder can’t see if he has tilted the cup enough for you to receive.
These seem like mundane matters as we look forward to Palm Sunday tomorrow, so it is good to remember that we sing the Palm Sunday exclamation every time we celebrate the Supper: “Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” As the crowds sought to properly receive the Savior as He entered Jerusalem, so we should give thought to how best to receive Him today; for, in Holy Communion, He still visits us to save. What joy!